US troops suffer rare blood infection

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An expectedly high number of US soldiers injured in the Gulf
region and Afghanistan are testing positive for a rare,
hard-to-treat blood infection in military hospitals, army doctors
reported today.

A total of 102 soldiers were found to be infected with the
bacteria Acinetobacter baumannii. The infections occurred among
soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Centre in Washington,
Landstuhl Regional Medical Centre in Germany and three other sites
between January 1, 2002, and August 31, 2004.

Although it was not known where the soldiers contracted the
infections, the army said the recent surge highlighted a need to
improve infection-control in military hospitals.

Eighty-five of the bloodstream infections occurred among
soldiers serving in Iraq, the area around Kuwait and Afghanistan,
the US Army said in a report published today by the Centres for
Disease Control and Prevention.

Military hospitals typically see about one case per year.

Army investigators said they did not know whether the soldiers
contracted the infections on the battlefield, during medical
treatment on the front line or following evacuation to Walter Reed,
Landstuhl and other military medical locations.

"Although some of the patients identified in this report had
evidence of bloodstream infections at the time of admission to
military medical facilities, whether the infections were acquired
from environmental sources in the field or during treatment at
other military medical facilities is unknown," the army said.

A. baumannii, which is found in water and soil and resistant to
many types of antibiotics, surfaces occasionally in hospitals,
often spread among patients in intensive care units.

The infection was also found in soldiers with traumatic injuries
to their arms, legs and extremities during the Vietnam War.

Spread of the infection is often halted when health-care workers
wash their hands and those of their patients with alcohol swabs,
actively monitor those with wounds to the extremities and promptly
identify the infected.

Development of better drugs also is needed to help contain
future outbreaks of the infection, army officials said. In some
cases, the only effective antibiotic is colistin, an older drug
that is rarely prescribed today because of its high toxicity.

Health-care providers in the United States are urged to watch
for A. baumannii infections among soldiers who have been recently
treated at military hospitals, especially those who were in
intensive care units.